Ecologia, the award winning environmental consultancy and contractor, has developed a groundbreaking remediation technique, which gives it a great opportunity to clean up with the country’s petrol retailers. In an industry first, Ecologia, a company based at Kent Science Park, near Sittingbourne, has used its patented Radio Frequency technology to extract volatile chemicals from contaminated land without the cost of removing the soil. The new technique is currently being successfully used at a former petrol station in Manston, near Ramsgate.

Ecologia drills holes into the soil then sinks radio antennae into the narrow shafts. Once in place the antennae send out radio waves to heat the soil and stimulate the contaminants, which rise through the soil. These gases are then removed using specially developed vacuum systems, and the air filtered using activated charcoal.

Giacomo Maini, Managing Director of Ecologia, said: “Our technique is a win-win for the site owner and the environment, and great news for us as there are hundreds of disused petrol stations across the country waiting to be cleaned up.

“As our process takes in the region of only three months the petrol retailer gains a clean site for future development or sale much quicker than other commercially available technique using in situ methods which can take approximately a year to complete. The technology is also commercially competitive in relation to the traditional removal and transportation of soil to landfill, which is fast becoming very expensive due to the recent increase in landfill tax and haulage costs.

“The environment benefits from the simple fact that companies no longer have to remove the contaminated soil and transport it to a hazardous waste landfill site. Our technique treats the problem on site, rather than effectively sweeping the problem under the carpet by moving it elsewhere, which is not environmentally sustainable.

“The results from this first ever field trial are incredibly positive and show we have a technology which can be commercially applied to removing contaminates from petrol stations.”

James Speck, Site Director at Kent Science Park, said: “Ecologia’s technology is leading the way and once again shows the talent that exists at the Park.” Ecologia is the current ‘Swale Company of the Year’.